Two boys from Mumbai top the CAT

Two boys from the city were among the nine students who scored an unassailable 100 percentile in the Common Admission Test (CAT), the results for which were declared on Wednesday. Shashank Prabhu, 26, and Ajinkya Deshmukh, 24, are the two from the city who aced the exam.

indiaUpdated: Jan 12, 2012 02:02 IST

Bhavya Dore Hindustan Times

Two boys from the city were among the nine students who scored an unassailable 100 percentile in the Common Admission Test (CAT), the results for which were declared on Wednesday. Shashank Prabhu, 26, and Ajinkya Deshmukh, 24, are the two from the city who aced the exam.

Interestingly, not everyone who has top-scored is lining up for interviews at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM). Prabhu, who holds an MBBS degree, appeared for the CAT for the third time this year, and is already halfway through his first year at Delhi's Faculty of Management Studies. "It's a very difficult decision," said Prabhu. "If I wasn't in a business school already, it would have been a straightforward decision."

Subhashish Bhadra, 20, a final year economics student at St Stephen's College, Delhi, has already landed a job through campus placement. "I'm extremely confused about what to do," said Bhadra. "I will go for the interviews, but I am also considering the job offer I have."

Ajinkya Deshmukh, 24, an Indian Institute of Technology-Madras alumnus is working at a company in Mumbai. Deshmukh, however, said he was ready to return to studies.

The nine top-scorers include two from West Bengal and one each from the National Capital Region, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand. Prabhu, Deshmukh, and Sri Ram Prasad, another topper, all prepared for CAT on their own. "I didn't feel the need for formal coaching. I just took some test series," said Prasad, an IIT-Ropar student.

CAT is the entry criterion to the 13 Indian Institutes of Management and 155 other business schools across the country.